Tonight could be your chance to watch SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket crash into the moon at more than seven times the speed of sound.
The rocket's 8,800-pound upper stage is expected to crash into the moon in the early morning hours of Wednesday, Aug. 5, USA TODAY reported. The rocket is left over from a January 2025 launch that was carrying an uncrewed lunar lander.
While visibility could be difficult, you can pull out your telescope and look up under clear skies across southern Michigan, according to local National Weather Service forecasts. An outlook for clouds and rain in parts of northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula could block your viewing chances.
Want a closer look? Buy a telescope here
Here's what to know about SpaceX's upcoming rocket
collision with the moon.
When is SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket colliding with moon?
The 8,800-pound, 45-foot upper, or second, stage of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, is expected to crash into the moon at approximately 2:34 a.m. ET Wednesday, Aug. 5, USA TODAY reported. The crash will occur near a moon feature known as the Einstein crater.
How fast will the rocket be traveling?
The object will be traveling at about 2.43 km a second, or 5,400 mph, when it strikes the moon, according to the analysis of Bill Gray, an astronomer who writes the widely used Project Pluto software to track near-Earth objects like asteroids, comets and human-made spacecraft.
Will Michigan see SpaceX rocket's moon collision?
Consider pulling out your telescope early Wednesday, Aug. 5, under clear skies, but visibility chances could be difficult because, as Gray explained, the impact will be incredibly faint for ground observations.
"Surprises are possible; it will probably be at least worth taking a look," Gray wrote. "Maybe we'll see the flash. Maybe we'll see rocks ejected from the crater. Maybe we'll even see both."
Will the crash leave a crater?
Because the rocket is mostly hollow, it won't leave a crater as big as an asteroid would cause. But a study Gray co-authored that has yet to be peer-reviewed suggests the impact could still create 66- to 98-foot-wide crater.
What is SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket?
The Falcon 9 rocket manufactured by Elon Musk's SpaceX is the most active rocket in the world. Standing 230 feet tall, the two-stage rocket is classified as a medium-lift launch vehicle capable of carrying about 50,000 pounds of cargo to orbit.
What mission did the Falcon 9 carry out?
The Falcon 9 on a path to crash into the moon is believed to be part of the same rocket that launched in January 2025 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida carrying an uncrewed lunar lander. The Blue Ghost lander, developed by Texas-based spaceflight company Firefly Aerospace, made it to the surface in March, where it operated for a complete lunar day, equivalent to about 14 Earth days.
While the payload fairing that protected the lander before deployment reentered Earth’s atmosphere, the upper-stage of the Falcon 9 rocket kept orbiting the Earth without ever reentering and burning up, Gray wrote.
USA TODAY contributed.
Contact Jenna Prestininzi: jprestininzi@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: SpaceX rocket set to smash into moon. When to watch
